Annual Medical Ethics Conference Celebrates 20 Years Of Disputes

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Conferences;  Public Health;  Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 12 Nov 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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The 20th annual conference of The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago will honor the Center's founder and director, Mark Siegler, MD, and examine his work and influence on the field. The conference will be held at the University of Chicago Law School, 1111 E. 60th Street, on Fri., Nov 14 from 1 to 5 pm, and Sat., Nov. 15, from 7:30 am to 5:15 pm.

The conference will be a "festschrift" - a European tradition in which a scholar's colleagues and trainees honor him with a discussion of his work.

The conference is organized around 16 of Sielger's elegant and opinionated writings on the doctor-patient relationship, the development of the field of clinical medical ethics, improved end-of-life care for patients, and new ethical approaches to innovations in surgical cancer care.

The Lindy Bergman Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine at the University, Siegler has written and spoken extensively on decision-making in complex medical situations, such as intensive care, end-of-life decision making and living-donor organ transplantation. These stressful situations serve as "clinical probes," he said. "They can help us understand the process by which patients and doctors reach everyday decisions."

Siegler founded The MacLean Center in 1984. It quickly became the country's leading center for teaching clinicians about patient-centered medical ethics. Since 1984, nearly 250 fellows - most of them physicians, but also nurses, legal scholars, theologians, and philosophers - have trained at the Center in a one- or two-year fellowship program.

Former MacLean fellows, many of who will speak at the conference, have published more than 60 books in the field. More than 30 have directed ethics programs in hospitals and research centers in the United States, Canada and Europe. More than 25 are now full professors at leading academic institutions and about a dozen hold endowed university professorships.

Although there is no fee for this conference, the organizers ask that attendees register online at http://ethics.bsd.uchicago.edu/events/2008conference.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

DAY ONE: Friday, November 14, 2008
The MacLean Center and its Role in the Development of Clinical Ethics

1:00 pm Opening Remarks and Welcome
Lainie Ross and Mary Ann MacLean

1:10-1:45 pm The MacLean Center Then and Now
THEN: Al Tarlov, Ann Dudley Goldblatt and Joel Howell*
NOW: Skip Garcia, Jim Madara and Lainie Ross

1:45-2:45 pm Clinical Ethics: The Field Then and Now
THEN: Ed Pellegrino, Paper #1: "Clinical Medical Ethics." 1990.
NOW: Peter Singer*, Paper #2: "Clinical Ethics Revisited."

3:00-4:30 pm Shared Decision Making and the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Paper #3: "The Nature and Limits of Clinical Medicine" 1979.
Paper #4: "Searching for Moral Certainty in Medicine: A Proposal for a New Model of the Doctor-Patient Encounter." 1981.
Speakers: Bob Levine, Jack Wennberg, Peter Ubel*

4:30-5:30 pm Futility and Hope
Paper #5: "Pascal's Wager and the Hanging of Crepe." 1975
Paper #6: "The Illusion of Futility in Clinical Practice." 1989.
Paper #7: "The Rise and Fall of the Futility Movement." 2000.
Speakers: William May, John Lantos* Caleb Alexander

DAY TWO: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Clinical Medical Ethics Chair: John Lantos*

Morning Session: The Impact of Clinical Ethics on Patient Care 8:30-9:15 am The MacLean Center as Part of the University of Chicago
Speakers: Arthur Rubenstein (Medicine) Richard Epstein (Law) Ed Laumann (Sociology) Ed Lawlor (The Harris School and SSA)

9:15-10:15 am Clinical Ethics and Patient Care
Paper #8: "The Contributions of Clinical Ethics to Patient Care." 1997.
Paper #9: "Confidentiality in Medicine - A Decrepit Concept." 1982.
Speakers: Jim Childress, Daniel Sulmasy

10:45-12 pm Clinical Ethics Consultation and End of Life Care
Paper #10: "An Ethics Consultation Service in a Teaching Hospital: Utilization and Evaluation." 1988.
Paper #11: "A Medicine of Strangers or a Medicine of Intimates: The Two Legacies of Karen Ann Quinlan." 1992.
Speakers: Susan Tolle* Paul Helft* Woody Moss* Annette Dula*

Afternoon Session: The Three Pillars of Academic Medicine: Research, Teaching and Patient Care
1:30-2:45 pm Clinical Ethics Research and Research Ethics Consultation
Paper #12: "Perceptions of Cancer Patients and Their Physicians Involved in Phase I Trials." 1995
Paper #13: "Learning from Our Patients: One Participant's Impact on Clinical Trial Research and Informed Consent." 1997.
Speakers: Al Jonsen, Carol Stocking, Rick Kodish* Chris Daugherty*

2:45-3:30 pm Teaching Ethics
Paper #14: "A Legacy of Osler: Teaching Clinical Ethics at the Bedside." 1978.
Speakers: Jordan Cohen, Laura Roberts*

3:45-5 pm Ethical Issues in Surgery and Organ Transplantation
Paper #15: "Identifying the Ethical Aspects of Clinical Practice." 1996.
Paper #16: "Ethics of Liver Transplantation with Living Donors." 1989.
Speakers: C. Rollins Hanlon, Peter Angelos* Ira Kodner* Charles Bosk 5-5:15pm Looking Back, Looking Ahead Mark Siegler

* Speaker is a former MacLean Center Ethics Fellow.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: John Easton
University of Chicago Medical Center